The invention relates generally to welding systems, and, more particularly, to systems and methods for compensation of an error in a secondary component of a welding system.
Welding is a process that has become ubiquitous in various industries and applications, such as construction, ship building, and so forth. Welding systems typically include a variety of secondary components, which may include secondary cabling as well as secondary equipment. Such secondary components may include welding torches, weld fixturing, weld cables, and so forth, and certain parameters of these secondary components may impact the quality of the weld obtained in a welding operation. For example, weld cables generally have associated resistance and inductance values. Due to the high current levels associated with typical welding processes, these inductance and resistance values often lead to voltage errors. In many instances, these voltage errors may lead to a decrease in the quality of the weld because voltage is used to control parameters of the welding arc.
Some previous systems have attempted to address the foregoing problem to reduce or eliminate the likelihood of experiencing the aforementioned decrease in weld quality due to the features of the secondary cabling. For example, some systems may utilize a non-current carrying voltage sensing lead that extends from the weld power supply to the end of the weld cables. Such voltage sensing leads may be utilized to sense the voltage at the weld without being affected by the voltage error generated by the weld cables. However, many weld environments are already cluttered with a variety of cables and other structures, and the addition of an extra cable may be undesirable. Accordingly, there exists a need for improved systems and methods for the compensation of errors introduced into the weld operation by secondary components, such as weld cabling.